¹ “My spirit is broken,
    my days are numbered,
    and the grave is ready to receive me.
² I am surrounded by mockers who taunt me,
    and my eyes dwell on their hostility.
³ “I call upon you to be a witness on my behalf,
    for there is no one else to whom I can turn.
⁴ You have closed the minds of others to reason,
    but surely you will not allow them to triumph.
⁵ “Like a man who invites others to dine with him,
    while the eyes of his children are failing,^[b]
6 I have become a byword in every land,
    someone people spit upon.
⁷ My eyes have become increasingly blinded with grief,
    and all my members have been reduced to a shadow.
^8 [c]The righteous are appalled at this,
    and the innocent are indignant at the wicked.
⁹ The upright continue to adhere to a righteous path,
    and those whose hands are pure will grow stronger.
¹⁰ “Even so, come forward, all of you, and continue your attack.
    I will not find even one man among you who is wise.
¹¹ My days have passed and my plans are foiled;
    the strings of my heart have been severed.
¹² My enemies would have me believe that night is day
    and that the light will soon eradicate the darkness.
¹³ “If I foresee the netherworld as my dwelling,
    if I spread out my bed in the darkness,
¹⁴ if I call the grave my father
    and the worm my mother or my sister,
¹⁵ where then will my hope be,
    and who can foresee any happiness for me?
¹⁶ Will they accompany me to the netherworld?
    Will we descend together into the dust?”